


The Child Finds Her Way

by Colorwizard



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 12:06:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12132138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Colorwizard/pseuds/Colorwizard
Summary: General Toffee is awoken by a nightmare in the middle of the night--Rasticore takes it upon himself to help.





	The Child Finds Her Way

**Author's Note:**

> A very short fic for my debut into AO3 society! Get ready for feels and fluff alike.

Though consciousness came on suddenly, reality took its time fading back into view. The darkness and lethargic crickets indicated it was far into the night. Torchlight from outside the tent shone weakly through the stitched hide to reveal the silhouette of a broad shoulder of muted green, covered with spikes, facing upward and gently rising and falling as the rest of the form slept on its side, nestled in pillows and protected from the unseasonable chill by a light blanket. The sight of this figure, comforting and familiar as it was, did little to calm frazzled nerves.

Amidst the quiet scene, he sat up. A single, slate-grey, clawed hand rose up to meet its owner's cheek and long muzzle, feeling the cool dampness of tears. His scaled chest and collarbones ached dully, slightly swollen eyes burning dry while slitted pupils took in the darkness. Running the other hand through his tousled black hair, he drank in the perfect stillness. Another nightmare, he realized as his senses returned fully, had awoken him from fitful rest. He pushed back a lump in his throat and turned his head upward, fighting his own body to keep from letting more tears fall. His efforts were in vain.

Sleeping had become a regrettable chore, made yet more difficult by the impossible war being waged during waking hours. Trying to forget the nightmare itself, he forced his mind to mull over the facts and statistics that surrounded his life, as he so often did. They were not much better, but they were rooted in reality: something he could deal with. So many lives rested in his hands, and they all looked up to him as their general. One wrong move, a miscalculated step in enemy territory, could get them all killed instantly. To think the enemy's opposition to their voices would be so strong as to warrant this: running around in the woods, taking pot shots at a fully trained and heavily equipped kingdom over ten times their size. He had been sick to his stomach to first hear just how vastly outnumbered they were and how woefully small their chances were. Nowadays, it was just an inconvenient fact of life.

Traumas of the past and present swirled together in his mind while he slept. To anyone else, he appeared cool and calculating, unshaken by even the greatest catastrophes. In truth, however, he remained the same frightened child who saw his home destroyed before his very eyes, over and over in one form or another in his current-day life. He had no idea what the coming days would bring, or whether his decisions would allow him and his army to live another day. The only ray of light on most days was--

His wandering thoughts returned to the present as the figure next to him shifted. It slowly rolled over to reveal sleepy yellow eyes gazing up at him. It reached one scaled, muted green hand up to gently brush its knuckles against his jaw. "Bad dream, Toff?" It whispered. The voice, so deep and familiar and soothing, settled on his ears like the warmth of summer air. Toffee looked down at the sleepy eyes, vision still distorted and watery. When the hand felt his damp cheek, it paused. When he realized it would be pointless to hide his emotions, they all welled up and prickled at his chest before rising into his throat and eyes. He crumpled forward into his own lap and gasped for air as his chest heaved and small drops hit the bedding. "I'm sorry for waking you, rast," he murmured through his quaking body.

Rasticore reached up to toffee's far shoulder and, with one gentle pull, brought toffee's head and shoulders down on top of his chest. He gathered the rest of toffee in his arms and pulled him up onto his own body. Taking the small blanket, rasticore laid it on top of toffee and held him tightly in his arms, hushing him and running his hand up and down toffee's back underneath the blanket. Rasticore's tail, snaking up from where it had been hanging off the side of the bed, found toffee's tail and coaxed it away from toffee's side. Wrapping their tails together, he laid one hand on toffee's head and kept the other arm gripped around toffee, fingers spread over toffee's upper back. He could feel shaky breaths as toffee wept from fright, grief and only gods knew what else. His thumb idly swept back and forth between shoulder blades as he calmed toffee, the smooth grey scales he touched like tiny pearls under his massive fingers. The other hand wove through silky black hair and lightly rubbed toffee's scalp. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to protect his general and his beloved, this beautiful creature that lay naked and vulnerable on his chest, from everything that might harm him.

From the disapproval of their relationship by Rasticore's unsympathetic peers to the kingdom that chased them endlessly, to the dreams inside toffee's own mind, Rasticore saw himself behind his eyelids as he bravely fought them all off, seeing toffee's smile and hearing his laughter as rasticore held him tight when he finished his battle. "It's going to be okay, toff," he whispered into the darkness. Toffee, who had grown a bit more still, didn't respond, but rasticore continued. "Someday this will all be over and we'll be free to walk away from this war to start a new life together, somewhere far away from here--as far as we like. We'll build a home together and spend the rest of our days enjoying the summer sun in the middle of a green meadow, and staying cozy by a fire in the winter. Just you and me. How does that sound?"

Rasticore opened his eyes to the cold tent and toffee's body shuddering with a fresh round of tears. "Oh toffee," rasticore murmured, hugging him even tighter. "Please tell me what's on your mind."

Toffee laid his chin flat on Rasticore's chest, trying to press himself as close as possible to rasticore and finally giving up completely on trying to hold back his emotions. "I'm so sick of these nightmares," toffee sobbed. "I'm sick of this war. I'm sick of them." He curled up tighter, squeezing his eyes shut. "I can't even sleep without being reminded that I've been forever condemned by them for the crime of being born, or that everyone I know will eventually be hunted down by them." He paused to look up at rasticore, his face betraying how broken he felt. "How will we ever escape this?" He sank back into wordless sobbing.

"Shh, it's okay, I'm here." Rasticore kissed his head and let toffee wear himself out, stroking his back and running his fingers through his hair. "You know, they haven't caught me yet. I'm still here with you," rasticore murmured gently with a small smile. "I don't plan on going anywhere. They'll have to run to hell and back before they ever caught me."

In a brief calm moment, toffee responded by nuzzling against Rasticore's neck.

A few times, the guards outside shifted. Their unease was palpable, and rasticore silently cursed them for being so skittish when their general was already so upset. While toffee probably didn't notice, rasticore took care to keep it that way and shield his general from their agitation, keeping the focus completely on the two of them. He continued talking about the life they would lead once their safety was secured in a gently lilting voice: a house just big enough for the both of them, going on adventures together, sleeping in the warm nighttime air...

As toffee calmed down, he lay limp on rasticore, silent aside from the occasional sigh. As he lay there, he could hear Rasticore's giant heart beating slow and strong. He shifted to bury his face in Rasticore's neck, the faint, powdery sweet scent of his partner's scales calming him. As he lay with his eyes and nose tucked safely away, he was reminded of how Rasticore radiated so much heat; it was a wonder he ever needed blankets at all. It was a soothing warmth, the kind he had felt so many times but could never have enough of. He had even been worried the man had a fever the first time they kissed. Despite the sparring they had been doing not moments earlier, Toffee had been startled by the sheer amount of heat as it rolled off rasticore; he made a mental note to ask his subordinate if he was keeping up with his health. Rasticore had reassured him that it was normal--that was simply how he had been his whole life, but that it probably didn't help that he was far too excited and nervous over finally getting to kiss someone so beautiful. Toffee amended his mental note to request Rasticore's company on chilly nights.

The memory eased toffee's heart and the muscles in his back unknit themselves under Rasticore's fingers. "What were you thinking about just now, love?" Rasticore asked with a small smile in his voice. "You," toffee mumbled through Rasticore's neck and the pillows he was leaning against. And with that, they laid in quiet, calm peace, basking in each other's presence as the last of toffee's tears found their way out and left him exhausted but tranquil. 

"It doesn't matter what they think of us anyway," rasticore mused as he rubbed toffee's neck and back. "You mean more to me than anything else, and neither beast nor force of nature could take those feelings away from me. We could be separated by time and vast oceans, and I will always love you."

"I love you too, rast," toffee murmured, though his face was still hidden against warm scales and frills and made his reply muffled. Rasticore failed to hold back a small chuckle and began to hum the septarian lullaby toffee had taught him. Toffee took his face out from his hiding spot to listen to the wandering tune. He gazed longingly at rasticore and brought a hand to the side of Rasticore's face. Rasticore leaned into his hand, slowly rubbing his head up and down against toffee's warm hand, and closed his eyes.

The song, whose words were known by only toffee and a small handful of other septarians anymore, told the story of a septarian child who got lost on her way home but, upon befriending the guardian spirit of a forest who says it does not know where her home is but is willing to do what it can to help, unites with another lost septarian child and the two agree they don't have as much to be afraid of anymore. Toffee heard the words in his head as Rasticore hummed, the heat of Rasticore's body enveloping him and melting away his unease.

When rasticore had finished the song, he opened his eyes to check on toffee. He was still studying Rasticore's face, seeming to memorize every line and crease in his partner's face. "You need your rest," rasticore whispered with a smile, trying to coax toffee to sleep with a gentle scratch at the base of toffee's skull. "I'll still be right here when you wake up. I promise."

Toffee let out a sigh that expressed some hesitation and hid against Rasticore's neck again. "I won't let go," Rasticore chuckled as he adjusted the blanket still covering toffee and kissed him.

As toffee lay nestled in Rasticore's arms, protected from the chill surrounding them, the gentle rising and falling of their synchronized breathing eased him into tranquility. The weak torchlight began to fade, as did the crickets who were barely keeping their chant. Reality gave way to visions of green fields and untouched white snow. At last, consciousness gracefully slipped away.


End file.
